Before you begin painting your chandelier I recommend acquiring your chandelier shades as your next step. There are many types of shades when it comes to shapes, colors, materials and prices. If you are going for a bright or unusual color you will want to make sure you will have matching shades before you go through all of the trouble decorating your chandelier. That is unless you plan to recover or craft your own chandelier shades as well, then the sky is the limit on options.

I have purchased the petite little chandelier and candelabra shades at both large lighting stores and smaller, high end interior decorating boutiques.

The thing to keep in mind is that most chandeliers will need 5-6 shades so the price of each shade adds up quickly. While it would be lovely to be able to order 5 shades at $49 each without a second thought, I'll be looking for a shade that ranges between $10-$20 each.

Here are just a few to give you an idea of what is available:

This is an embroidered silk shade that was pricey but I only needed two because they were for a sconce. To be honest I purchased them so many years ago I don't remember the exact price but would say it was probably in the $15 - $25 price range.

The seams are small and tidy and the inside is lined with a solid colored fabric.

Here is a close up of the embroidery. It's really gorgeous!

This ivory, box pleated chandelier shade is pretty classic. It will go with most chandeliers and creates a nice contrast in a room where the walls are painted a bright or dark solid color.

You can see in this image that the edges are finished nicely and the interior of the shade is plastic lined so there are no seams.

This little leopard print shade is one that I purchased at a lighting store for less than $10 each. They were inexpensive but so cute right?

Here you can see the finish isn't nearly as nice as with the other two. It's bumpy and the edging looks bulky.

There's even a few spots of dried glue on the exterior of the shade. I'm not showing you this to say don't buy inexpensive shades, I just want you to realize you get what you pay for and the lower price may mean the construction is of lower quality.

That's ok though. It really isn't noticeable and hasn't bothered me at all that these shades are of lesser quality than the others.

I've decided for this project I am going to stick to a white or off white colored shades. I love this one at Kingdom Lighting. It costs $18.99 so the question is do I want to make an investment into them. For now I'm going to think about it because if I'm looking for a neutral color like white or ivory it'll be easy to find something when the time comes.

To search for shades online I recommend going to Google Images and search the following terms:

Chandelier Shades
Candelabra Shades
Sconce Shades

And if you're looking for a particular detail, try the terms alone first then add in other adjectives like colors and shapes.